Hemlock-killing bug found in southern Ohio park

March 24, 2013

The Associated Press

COLUMBUS — State officials have discovered a hemlock-killing bug in a state park in southern Ohio.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the Ohio Department of Agriculture say the relatively small infestation of the hemlock woolly adelgid was recently found in trees in Hocking Hills State Park.

The state is looking at various options for dealing with the aphid-like insect that threatens eastern hemlock and Carolina hemlock in the eastern United States. Those options include sprays of horticultural oils or insecticidal soaps, systemic insecticides and biological control.

Hocking County is being added to Ohio’s hemlock quarantine restricting transportation of hemlock plant material to non-infested counties.

State officials say the insect was first reported in the eastern United States in 1951 and found in natural stands of hemlock in Ohio in 2012.